EWING — Matt Tepedino is the kind of pitcher that forces opposing teams into a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to making mistakes.

But Hamilton High’s baseball team made two, and Tepedino took it from there in outdueling West’s equally outstanding Cody Astbury.

The Mainland Regional pitcher showed why he is ticketed for Division-I New Orleans next year after throwing a five-hitter and striking out 13 to power the upstart Mustangs to a 2-0 victory against the Hornets in Wednesday’s NJSIAA Group III semifinal at The College of New Jersey.

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound right-hander raised his record to 5-2 and lowered his ERA, which was 1.60 entering the game. He mixed a wicked curve with a fastball that topped out at 95 mph by a radar gun in attendance.

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“That was really nice,” he said. “I sit around 90, I clocked out last year at 92, and this time I hit 95. That’s very shocking to me.”

“I guess coming in we weren’t seeing as fast as he was throwing,” Hornets designated hitter Tyler Barlow said. “He just had good stuff and we didn’t. He’s definitely one of the hardest throwers we’ve faced.”

Ironically, some people hanging out during Tuesday’s rain delay wondered if Mainland’s second 90-minute bus ride in as many days would have an adverse effect. In Tepedino’s case, it was exactly the opposite.

“Today everything was good, and I was very happy with the way everything went today. I felt real comfortable coming out, my warmup catch felt real strong, my long toss, there was no strain at all. Coming out of the bullpen I felt so strong. My slider was on, my fastball was popping.”

And yet, Hamilton nearly had Tepedino on the ropes in the fifth inning when three straight singles nearly loaded the bases with no outs. But on the third hit — a bunt by Alex Cruz that Tepedino mishandled — a base running error at third base was exploited by the Mustangs. Suddenly it was runners on first and second with one out.

“That play was big right there,” Tepedino said a laugh. “I told my coach we had a play on there to make it look like I didn’t make an error. I took my eye off the ball and I knew something bad was going to happen when that kid was going to third. Luckily we made that play, so I’m happy.”

It obviously lifted Tepedino, who then retired seven straight, six via strikeout, before Gerry Gomez’s two-out single in the seventh.

The hurler’s effort puts Mainland (14-12) in the Group III finals after it opened state play with a 7-11 record. The Mustangs have won eight of nine and six straight.

“Our team is very good,” said Tepedino, who originally committed to Temple but was quickly contacted by New Orleans and Penn State when the Owls cut baseball from their budget. “Obviously in the regular season before the playoffs, we weren’t hitting, we were making a lot of errors, striking out a lot. We worked on that all day in practice, every day and then one day something clicked.

“During the first day of the playoffs, they had smiles on their faces, they looked ready to play and looked like a baseball team.”

And now they are one win away from looking like a championship baseball team thanks to a pitcher who gives foes no margin for error.